//------------------------------//
// Repercussions...Again. 
// Story: Freedom Incarnate, or the Redemption of Chaos 
// by Spirit Wind 
//------------------------------//




I woke up, in jail, again. 

I had no idea what had happened other than that I had caused a large amount of chaos. My body was fighting itself over getting up, I had apparently lost a lot of energy. When Twilight appeared as a visitor, it took all I had just to stay awake again, so she really did all of the talking.

“Spirit, what were you thinking? Have you gone completely insane? Only Discord has caused chaos on that scale before!” She paused after reprimanding me. I only responded with a pitiful grunt-whine. “Now, I have been working on a way to remove that power of yours, it only seems to be causing trouble for everyone. Unfortunately it’s not quite ready yet, so I’ve requested that Princess Celestia keeps you locked in here until it’s ready. She will be coming to ask for an explanation of what you did, so make sure you’re respectful to her and explain everything that happened. I have also pre-“ Her monologue continued as I passed out again.

Finally, when my energy had mostly returned, I got up and bothered to take a look around the cell. Boring was the easiest way to describe it, white-washed walls and shined iron pillars for bars. One thing was different about this cell than the other one I was in, this one was coated in a layer of magic suppressing stuff, and I was unable to use any of my chaos powers at all.

It wasn’t long before Celestia appeared on the other side of my cell. I knew exactly what she was going to say.

“I am very disappointed in you, Spirit, you completely disregarded all that I taught you. You were lucky that the Elements of Harmony treated you differently than Discord, but just because the Elements saw you differently doesn’t excuse your actions against Manehattan. What do you have to say for yourself?” Celestia reprimanded, losing none of her regal appearance as she fumed.

“Discord is back?” I said, more like a question than an explanation. Now before you laugh, realize how difficult it is to talk to the ruler over your entire land who stands at least twice as tall as yourself and is many times more imposing. This month wasn’t my best for talking, or anything else for that matter.

“How can you prove this?” Celestia asked, sounding both worried and doubtful.

“Screwball told me.” I responded, a bit more confident.

“So Screwball was involved with you tearing apart Manehattan because Discord’s back?”

“Yes! Wait… no! Ugh. Let me explain.” Of course I had stuck my hoof in my mouth again. What completely confused me is that she was laughing; here I was all but admitting to the chaotic rewrite of Manehattan, and Celestia was just laughing.

“Oh Spirit, you’re just like Twilight when you get flustered. Don’t worry, Screwball explained everything, twice actually. While I don’t approve of the way you went about it, you did get the daughter of Discord, heir of chaos, to realize the importance of control. Although, she seemed very traumatized by the entire ordeal, she didn’t explain in detail what happened. Would you care to explain?” Celestia has a way of calming down everything, even the lights seemed relieved somehow.

“I wish I could, but I don’t remember anything besides drawing up the core of my power, and falling into the ocean after the Elements freed me.” I replied. It concerned me that she made no mention of Discord beyond that she knew about it, but I left it alone, knowing it’d be dealt with eventually.

“Is that so? Well, I see no need to keep you if that’s the case. I think you should go talk to Twilight Sparkle and her friends right away, they’ll want to know what happened.” Celestia said with resolution. I was set free. When my chaos returned, I could definitely feel the drop in my reserves of power.

It was a really long flight back to Ponyville, I couldn’t imagine what any of those six were going to say; Especially since those rumors are still going around, probably reinforced by my actions in Manehattan.

My arrival in Ponyville was met by the sun hitting its peak, noon. As usual, I was avoided by everypony in the streets. Considering Twilight was the accepted ‘leader’ of the Elements, and she was usually the most logical about everything, I decided to see her first. One knock on the tree-house and I was greeted by a Twilight who’d been up studying too late again. She mumbled something and walked back into the tree, leaving the door open.

I followed her inside and took a seat at the book covered table. Twilight had made her way upstairs and through a door, leaving me to the main floor of the library. She had left her study materials open on the table, so I decided to take a peak. I immediately regretted it when I saw the title, “Chaos Gems and their Effects on Ponies” by Twilight Sparkle. My powers caused me a lot of trouble, but were a lot of fun, and I did understand where she came from when putting together a book like that, so I didn't hold it against her.

Eventually, Twilight returned to the main library floor, without the messy look of just-woke-up. She approached me without a look of anger, but a look of want, a want to understand. I hoped that this was a good sign. All she did was walk past me and take a seat at the table, her magic levitating a note-pad and a pencil; she gestured for me to take a seat. When I did, she began.

“Okay Spirit, explain. I know you and that anarchy wasn’t you. What happened?”

With more confidence than when I was speaking to Celestia, I told her everything, from when I met Celestia for the first time to when I reached her tree. The only thing left out was what happened when I was ‘possessed’. The air needed clearing, and I was ready to explain and I finally had someone who would listen.